OREGON JOINS LEGAL FIGHT IN SUPPORT OF EPA'S PLAN TO REGULATE LARGE INDUSTRIAL SOURCES OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

July 22, 2010

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Oregon and 12 other states intervene in a lawsuit by oil, steel and chemical companies that challenges the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to regulate greenhouse gas emissions

Attorney General John Kroger today announced that Oregon has joined a legal fight in support of federal regulation of large industrial sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

"The science is clear. Global climate change harms public health, and the EPA is taking the right approach by focusing on the big sources of pollution," said Attorney General Kroger.

Last year, EPA Director Lisa P. Jackson departed from the Bush Administration's longstanding refusal to embrace widely accepted scientific findings that greenhouse gases harm the environment and public health. Since then, the EPA has taken steps to begin addressing the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the country by requiring permits for the largest industrial sources.

In response, a group backed by oil, steel and chemical industries filed a lawsuit challenging the EPA's authority to regulate carbon emissions under the U.S. Clean Air Act.

Oregon and 12 other states today intervened on behalf of the EPA's position.

Attorney General John Kroger leads the Oregon Department of Justice. The Department's mission is to fight crime and fraud, protect the environment, improve child welfare, promote a positive business climate, and defend the rights of all Oregonians.